Three Wishes
by anonymousgymseductress
Summary: "'Fine. Not money then. What do you want to bet on' she said, leaning forward, the gleam of competition fresh in her eye." Aaron and Emily place a bet with very simple rules: winner gets three wishes from the loser. The repercussions may not be so simple. M in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys! It's been a long time since I've joined a fandom that only has 65 fanfictions written for it, but what can I say, Emron's got me hooked. I've been writing fanfiction for years but haven't published in a while, so s/o to these two for finally motivating me enough. I just created this new account, so feel free to follow it, although my other account is called 'Not a day will go by' if you want to check it out (though there are no Emron fics on it). This story will be multiple chapters and will get pretty M rated. I don't normally write smutty stuff but the fact that there's so little Emron smut so far makes me feel like it is my civic duty. I've already written drafts of the next couple chapters, so stay tuned, and leave me a review to tell me how you're feelin about it!**

Several weeks after Patrick Lloyd had escaped from the FBI's capture, three stars of the new Kirkman administration found all of themselves with the same night off for the first time since the new president had taken office. Namely, Seth Wright, Aaron Shore, and Emily Rhodes. While Seth hadn't found it easy to convince the other two to use their night off to go to the local bar rather than go their separate ways and crash — after all, they were all exhausted all the time — the Press Secretary knew how to manipulate an audience, whether it was a room of reporters or his two best friends. That is, he convinced them each to come by telling them that the other had already agreed to be there.

It hadn't been entirely natural between the two since Aaron had returned to the White House as a Special Advisor to President Kirkman. It wouldn't have been noticeable to anybody who hadn't known their previous dynamic, but they argued less. They were more cordial and polite to one another. It wasn't that they were cold, but they were treading lightly in a way they had never bothered to do before. It helped that they had been avoiding being alone with one another like the plague, therefore never giving themselves enough time to address the kiss, the almost-date, the investigation, and everything else that had messed up their relationship in the first place. Not that they didn't occasionally spot the other one staring at them from across the room, but it always ended with them quickly glancing away. Emily would tuck her hair behind her ears and Aaron would fiddle with his suspenders, both of them looking anywhere else.

While they weren't addressing anything of their past, Emily was internally coming to terms with the fact that they would never be. Not that she didn't want him — and she did, badly. More than she would have ever cared to admit. She certainly wasn't going to be telling anybody about her increasingly common daydreams about running her fingers through his curly hair, pulling him closer to her by his tie while he kissed and sucked his way from her lips down her throat and chest. Yeah. Nobody was ever going to know about that. But still, she suspected he still felt far too betrayed to consider starting something again. She had just been doing her job, but still, she understood. It hadn't been a big thing, they had just kissed once, and she was trying to convince herself that it clearly just wasn't meant to be.

As for Aaron, he found that he could not stay mad at Emily Rhodes for long. But he had kissed her the first time, and while she had accepted his original request for a date, she had also canceled it quickly after. And then there was the _minor_ matter that she had believed he was capable of treason. All he knew was that she clearly didn't feel as strongly about him as he did her, and he wasn't going to try to force her into something she didn't want.

It was that night that they had off, the one that Seth had lured them to by playing them off each other, that the three of them found themselves staring up at one of the bar's TV screens, watching a Fox News report on a minor drop on the stock market. They hadn't meant to get caught up in work talk on their night off, though Aaron and Emily also found themselves changing the subject back whenever they started nearing personal topics; neither one of them particularly cared to know whether the other had been seeing somebody new.

Not long after their attention had been directed toward the screen, Seth glanced at his watch and whistled lowly.

"Yikes. I really have to get home, but I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They both nodded and waved goodbye casually, barely removing their attention from the screen. Seth smirked, knowing that the two workaholics were so invested in the right-wing's ridiculous take on the stock market that they didn't even notice that he was excusing himself at only about 8 pm. He suspected they'd notice his absence more when the report was over and they realized that they no longer had Seth for a conversational buffer.

As the report continued, the anchor of the news segment announced they would be bringing on a commentator.

"Oh god, they're bringing on Kingsley again?" Aaron said, sounding as frustrated as he did when he was watching basketball. "Don't they know he's a moron? I'll bet you he only blames Kirkman for the whole thing, god forbid the right-wing have anything to do with it."

"Really?" Emily questioned, taking a sip of her wine. "He'll go after the President, sure, but I think he actually has it in for some of those wall street guys, I hear he's got some beef with them." Aaron brushed off her comments with a wave of his hand. With anybody else she would be offended, but she knew him. He lived and breathed politics and made no effort to shield others' feelings from his (very strong) opinions. The words "minor leaguer" ran through her head briefly.

"Not enough to ever hold them accountable, just to sometimes tweet passive aggressive things about them."

"Fine. You said you'd bet? How much?" She challenged, not willing to let him get away with always trying to make himself look like the most politically savvy in the room.

For the first time since Seth left, Aaron removed his eyes from the screen. He looked her up and down appreciatively, impressed by the strength of her convictions though not at all surprised. This was Emily Rhodes he was talking about, the most sure-of-themselves person he'd ever met, _maybe_ after himself. After his fair share of drinks, however, the memory of her soft lips colliding with his and her hand grazing his jaw were in the forefront of his mind more than he normally allowed, filling his mind with ideas of what he could say to her right now that he normally wouldn't even allow himself to consider. Taking a long drink while continuing to look at her, he put down his glass.

"Afraid I actually don't have any cash on me," he lied easily, putting the ball in her court. If it ended there, it ended there. If not-

"Fine. Not money then. What do you want to bet on?" She said, leaning forward, the gleam of competition fresh in her eye. He allowed himself a small twitch of his lip, hoping she'd say something like that, just so long as she didn't let the conversation end there. He matched her position, leaning forward to match her.

"How about genie rules?" he suggested. She looked confused so he clarified. "Winner gets three wishes from the loser."

He was throwing caution to the wind here, all of the potential wishes he might ask of her swimming through his mind. From the hard gulp and subconscious licking of her lips that he noticed smugly, he guessed her mind was in a similar place to his. He smirked and cocked an eyebrow, fully expecting her to end the conversation there by turning it into a breezy joke. He'd be disappointed, of course, but not surprised. He certainly no longer suspected that she wanted much of anything to do with him romantically. Whether she _ever_ had was still a question plaguing his mind.

Much to his shock, Emily seemed to swallow her nervousness and narrowed her eyes. "Deal," she said, sticking out a hand for him to shake. His eyebrows shot even higher, suddenly not sure of what he'd gotten himself into, but knowing he wasn't about to back out. They shook on it and she felt sparks on her skin and a jolt in her stomach as they touched for the first time in a while. They returned their attention to the screen, asking the bartender to turn it up a bit.

"Good evening Mr. Kingsley, it's good to have you with us tonight," the anchor was saying.

"I wish I could say it was good to be back," the right-wing commentator sighed.

"Pretending like he doesn't love the attention," Emily said, rolling her eyes. Aaron nodded firmly, at least united with Emily in their detestation of the man.

"And what do you mean by that, Mr. Kingsley?"

"I mean that the so-called 'President' Thomas Kirkman and his in-over-their-heads, naive staff have been treading water for months now, and we're finally seeing the results: the economy is going to tank because of Tom Kirkman's leadership."

"Are you saying you don't blame anybody but President Kirkman for this incident in the stock market?"

"Absolutely."

Aaron turned away from the screen, a smirk on his face. Emily didn't look at him, biting her lip in frustration. He wished she'd stop doing that as he clenched his fist a little too hard around his glass, hoping she'd throw him some kind of bone to get his mind out of the gutter. Especially now that he could ask her for any three favors. Though he knew he wasn't about to take advantage of her because of a stupid bet. If anything was ever going to happen, it would be because they both wanted it to happen, not just because Emily was under some obligation to him. Not that that made it any easier for him as he pictured her biting his lip instead of her own.

"So. Congratulations," Emily said begrudgingly.

"Thank you Ms. Rhodes, it's hard to be so right all the time," he said with a fake sigh, his eyes still glinting mischievously.

"So what's it gonna be? I could buy you a drink?" Emily suggested, hoping that the PG idea for what one of his "wishes" would be might calm her heartbeat, which felt like it was about to pop clean out of her chest any time she thought about the hungry look on his face when he suggested that the winner get three wishes from the loser.

Unfortunately, her plan to defuse the tension was futile. He grinned boyishly at her and said, "oh no, it's not going to be anything that easy, Em."

She took another drink because her mouth was suddenly feeling extremely dry. "What, then?"

He leaned back in his chair. "I guess I'll have to give it a bit more thought."

"Woah, no, you can't just be holding these over my head for as long as you want, we never said the winner had the wishes for an unlimited time."

"But we also never said anything about the wishes expiring."

She glared at him. Stupid, smug, attractive, infuriating, manipulative Aaron Shore.

Seeing how seriously she was taking this, he sighed, running a hand up to his hair, some of the gel wearing off by this point in the day. He couldn't put his finger on why exactly he acted like this around Emily. She made him want to act impressive which apparently meant smug and cocky somewhere in his brain. He knew that flirting with her would never mean as much to her as it did to him, but he couldn't stop himself from wanting to do it anyways. Still, it was the least he could do to drop the asshole-facade for a moment to calm her fears. "Look, Em, don't worry. It's a stupid little bet, it's not about to be anything bad."

She blinked, surprised by the seriousness of his tone. "Thank you for saying that, Aaron," she said politely, hearing herself fall into the formality that their day-to-day conversations had been like recently. His eyes lowered and he gave a sad little smile, the one that broke her heart a little every time she saw it. Clearly he could hear the formality too. That wasn't what she wanted. Even if it could end up being humiliating, what she really wanted from this bet was for it to maybe get them back to what they'd been before all of the bullshit that went down during the investigation. She didn't want to be too flirty since she suspected he would want nothing to do with that coming from her, though admittedly his behavior this night had felt very forward, almost like it had been in the days leading up to their kiss. But she was pretty sure she'd do just about anything to get that kicked-puppy expression off his face, so she leaned forward and added on in a somewhat sensual voice, "but what kind of 'bad' are you talking about?"

He was visibly taken aback by the suggestive tone, but didn't stop to think long. He knew he might get hurt again, later down the road, but if Emily Rhodes wanted to flirt with him tonight, it simply wasn't within his (considerable) power to put an end to it. He just couldn't stop himself when it came to her. He paused to consider her question.

"I suppose I mean 'bad' as in anything you wouldn't otherwise want."

"And you think you know what I want?" She asked, not dropping her suggestive tone or leaning away from him. Again, he matched her in leaning across the table, this time getting close enough to whisper into her ear.

"I think I'm starting to get a pretty good idea," he said huskily. With satisfaction, he heard her breath catch and saw the hair behind her ears stand on end. Leaning back, he looked in his wallet and feigned surprise when he pulled out a couple of bills. "Huh. Looks like I did have cash after all." She bit her lip, holding herself back from giving him a hard time about his obvious lie to get her to bet something better than money. He got off the chair and took his suit jacket off the back of the chair and put it back on. He dropped some money on the table. "On me. Goodnight, Emily," he said with a small smile and started to make his way to the door.

Refusing to allow him to leave on such a victorious note, using her same silky voice, she said, "sweet dreams, Aaron," not so loud that the others around their table heard her, but definitely loud enough that he made it out. With satisfaction, she was almost sure she saw a slight shiver run up his spine.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello again! Thank you all so much for the kind reviews, they make me so much more motivated to write! I'm updating at like 2 am Sunday because sleep is for the weak, but so you all know it will probably be about a week between updates from here on out. Also, just so everybody knows, this chapter isn't smutty but it will be next chapter, so stay tuned ;) See you all next week, and don't forget to leave a review! 3**

Goddamn, he didn't know why he allowed himself to be played so easily by Emily Rhodes. Somehow, even after his flirtation and the debt she now owed him, he had been the one who left the bar feeling unbearable desire for her. He spent half the night thinking through exactly how to behave at work the following day in order to regain the upper hand, and the other half simply thinking about her. Eventually, it truly did fade into very, very "sweet dreams". But as he slicked his hair back in the morning, he promised himself that he wouldn't let her get away with it again today.

Halfway across town, Emily was thinking the exact same thing. She decided that she wouldn't let him get away with making empty promises in his flirtations. While they had no idea that the other felt how they did, it hurt them both too much to think that the other never had any intention on following through.

"Ms. Rhodes," he said politely as he saw her organizing things in her purse in the lobby when he got through security in the morning.

"Mr. Shore," she responded with equal formality, matching his slight note of sarcasm. She noticed the two coffees in his hands and he followed her eyes.

"For you." He held out one of the cups. She opened her mouth but he cut her off. "Yes, of course it's the right order."

"I thought I was supposed to be the one who owed you," she raised her eyebrows as she took the cup from him.

"Like I said, it won't be as easy as a drink."

"Right. But easy enough that it's something I want."

"Of course. Though maybe not so easy that you'd just admit you want it."

She smirked, acting amused by his blatant euphemism. "Trust me Aaron, I don't have any issue with going after the things I want."

"Is that so?"

"Got your job, didn't I?"

She regretted it the instant it left her lips. Competition had always been a driving force in their relationship, and she _had_ been open about her ambitions to become Chief of Staff, but she didn't want to imply that she had been happy when he left because of the job opening, or that the investigation had in any way been linked to wanting his job. They had stopped outside her office by now, but she noticed that the shit-eating grin was off his face. He was looking away from her as if planning a quick getaway from the conversation.

"Woah, Aaron, I am so sorry. I didn't mean that to sound-"

"It's fine, Em."

"No, it's not. I really am sorry. I didn't _like_ that you left. I got carried away and I said something inappropriate. I'm sorry."

He glanced back at her. "More than forgiven, Emily." And suddenly the seriousness was gone. "Though if we're apologizing now for getting carried away and saying inappropriate things…" He trailed off with a smile. She rolled her eyes.

"Meeting in the Oval at 10, see you there?"

"Can't wait," he said, lifting his eyebrows slightly and turning around to walk to his own office.

She was grateful for the refuge of her office for the next couple hours, even if it meant making about a dozen calls to angry members of congress and economists on figuring out how to give the stock market a boost. Somehow, yelling at obnoxious congressmen was a welcome distraction from the Aaron-centric thoughts plaguing her. But before she knew it — and before she would've prefered — it was 10 and time to see him again. At least the President and Seth would also be there, so it hopefully wouldn't be as tense as it had been that morning.

She stepped into the office, noticing that she was the last one to arrive; Seth and Aaron were already standing around the desk, assembling a plan as to what they would do to get the public less worried about the economy and get blame shifted away from President Kirkman. Emily easily slipped into the conversation, making sure to stand on Seth's other side, away from Aaron.

"Congresswoman Friedman is leading the charge against you, sir," Seth was saying. "I think we'll need to appease her before we start attempting damage control anywhere else."

"I agree," Kirkman said. "Who wants to take the lead on that?"

"I can, Mr. President," Aaron volunteered.

"Actually sir, I was just on the phone with one of Friedman's aids this morning. I think it'd be best if I followed up with them," Emily said. She thought she almost saw Aaron deflate from the corner of her eye, but she kept looking at the president.

"Okay, thank you Emily."

The conversation continued from there, but Emily could almost feel Aaron's eyes on her for the rest of the meeting. Once the president dismissed them she walked straight to her office, trying to pretend she didn't notice that Aaron was following immediately behind. She moved to close the door as she walked in but he caught it easily.

"Oh, sorry Aaron, didn't see you there," Emily lied breezily, setting down folders on her desk and moving papers around so as to look busy. He closed the door behind him and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that they were alone where they had once kissed. They had worked so hard to not be found alone together lately and suddenly it was three time sin less that 24 hours.

"Sure. What was that about Emily?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean stopping me from contacting Friedman. Do you seriously _still_ not trust me?"

"Aaron," she said, surprised that that was how he'd taken it. "Of course we trust you. The president wouldn't have hired you back if-"

"Okay, so President Kirkman trusts me. It really doesn't seem like _you_ do."

"Aaron, I trust you. Of course I do. I never- look, I just already had a contact in her office. It made sense for it to be me."

"Em, it's Washington. Everybody knows everybody. You think I wouldn't also have a contact in her office?"

She paused. "Well you never said anything about that. I was just trying to help. If it means that much to you, you can be the one to-"

"It's not just about Friedman, Emily," he said, increasingly frustrated. "It's about the fact that two months ago you thought I was capable of treason and sometimes it feels like you still do. I can't do my job if the Chief of Staff doesn't trust me to have the administration's best interest at heart."

"For god's sake, Aaron, of course I trust you!" she yelled out, louder than she had intended. "I never thought you were capable of treason, I was trying to prove you were innocent, not prove you were guilty! Listen I know everything got messed up but- urgh! I'd- I'd do anything to make you understand this: I trust you! I trust you more than I trust maybe anyone in this building, maybe anyone- I don't know how to say this. I don't know how to make you get it, but of course I trust you, I trust your judgement and your loyalty and your- I trust you, Aaron. That's all there is to it. Please believe me."

She looked up at him on her last sentence, the passion of her convictions suddenly cut short as she saw the small smile growing, almost unnoticeably, on his face. "What?" she said, annoyed.

"Did you just say you'd do anything to prove you trust me?" He smiled, his eyes boring into her's in a fashion that could only be described as pure seduction.

She paused again, considering their interaction and reaching a conclusion. "Oh, you asshole."

"What did _I_ do?" he said, feigning innocence.

"You enormous asshole. God, I can't believe I fell for that."

"Fell for what?"

"It wasn't about me not trusting you, it was about getting me to say something like 'I'll do anything'," she said, putting on a mocking, breathy voice.

"Ah, so exactly as I suspected: all talk," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"You. You play at enjoying all these flirtatious moments, but you don't have any follow-through. You're all talk, Emily Rhodes. And frankly, I'd thank you to only make promises you're willing to keep from now on. It'll be better for both of us." He turned to exit her office, but was stopped short by her calling after him.

"Are you kidding me right now?"

He turned back again. "Not at all."

She stepped out from behind her desk and paced toward him, suddenly proving exactly why somebody as young and perky as she was more than able to handle being the White House Chief of Staff. "How's this for the pot calling the kettle black, huh? You think _I'm_ the one with no follow-through? You lord these stupid 'wishes' over my head like you're about to do something so _bad_ but we both know you won't. I don't know what exactly you think you're getting out of playing with my head, but _I'd_ thank _you_ to cut it out. If you're just gonna talk, let's keep it to work. Stop pretending like you're about to make some big move."

At this point she had effectively walked him backward til his back was against her office door. While she may be cornering him, he certainly wasn't backing down. "You didn't mind the last move I made, though, did you?" He asked innocently, raising his eyes to gesture at the couch where they had kissed, in a time that felt like a lifetime ago.

She raised an unimpressed eyebrow and spoke candidly, sick of him trying to one-up her. "No, I didn't." She saw shock briefly cross his face. "But since it certainly doesn't seem like you're going to be _following through_ again, I think it's best we end things here, don't you?"

She took another step towards him and he lowered his head so they were mere inches from each other. "There you go again, not trusting me, Emily. I can assure you, I would never say that I'm willing to do something if I wasn't actually willing to do it. Now you on the other hand, go around saying you'll 'do anything' to convince me you trust me, but when push comes to shove that simply isn't true."

She glared at him, breathing deeply through her nose and bracing herself. "Yes, it is true."

He stopped, considering her, as if searching for any hint of a bluff. After a while he said, "well then." He reached into his pocket, pulling out his keys and taking off his spare key to his apartment. He slipped it into her pocket, not breaking eye contact and with her making no move to stop him. With satisfaction, he noticed a slight gasp as he placed his hand on her, even if there was fabric between them. "If you're so true to your word, come over tonight and...convince me. We can call it one of my wishes."

She quirked her lips, heart racing about a million beats per minute. Was he somehow still messing with her? "You're on." With that she reached out to his side and she could tell he was confused by what she was doing, until the door suddenly came out from behind him, sending him tumbling into the hallway. He straightened up quickly, grateful that not many people were around to have seen him, and looked back at the door long enough to see Emily wink at him and pull the door shut once again. He blinked and quickly turned to retreat to his own office, feeling a jolt in his stomach as he thought about that night.

After a few hours in his office, enough time to try to distract himself with work and fail miserably, he started to re-evaluate the deal they had struck. Not that the idea of her proving, through plenty of illicit means that were running through his head, that she trusted him was not perhaps the most appealing offers he'd ever heard, he hated to think that she was only going to do it because he had goaded her on. He had promised himself that it anything ever happened it would be consensual and not because of this ridiculous bet. He knew that he'd have to give her an out before anything actually happened, so he eventually worked up the courage to knock on her office door that afternoon.

"Come on in," he heard her yell from inside.

He walked in saying, "Emily, listen, I need-" but cut himself off when he saw that Seth was already in her office. "Oh, hey Seth."

"Hey, man," Seth said. "I was just about to leave, but it sounds good to you, Em?"

"Yeah it sounds perfect. Give 'em hell."

"Always do. Your turn, Aaron," he joked as he turned around and exited, smiling as he pulled the door shut behind him. He from Emily's expression when the Special Advisor had walked in, he suspected that they would need some privacy for their "meeting".

"What was he running by you?" Aaron said, suddenly having lost his nerve.

"Just the statement for the press regarding the stock market. You said you needed something?"

"Yeah," he said. "Listen, I think I got a little carried away earlier, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, so look who isn't following through now," she smirked, leaning back in her chair.

"No, no, that's not what it is," he said, closing his eyes. "I'm just trying to- I don't want you to come over tonight to prove something to me. Or to knock off one of the three things you owe me. That's not- I don't want that at all."

"That's not the reason I was going to come over," she smiled, enjoying it when he suddenly seemed less confident than he always did.

"But you...you _were_ gonna…?" He said, trying to stop himself from sounding too desperate.

"Yes," she said simply. "Because I wanted to." She paused to consider. "And also a little bit to prove something to you. Can't help it. You know I'm competitive. Can't back down from a challenge." She took the key out, which was still in her pocket where he'd left it. "But hey, if you're having second thoughts-"

"No," he said, too quickly. "I'm not. I want- I want you to come over too."

"Good then," she smiled. He nodded, opening his mouth to say something else but seemed to think better of it and turned on his heel attempting (unsuccessfully) to hide the smile that he couldn't hold back from spreading across his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Okay, here's the first wish! ;) Also the first time I've published smut, so please forgive me if it's horrible. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!**

 _This was stupid. This was so fucking stupid._

Emily Rhodes was pacing in her office, rubbing the sides of her head. Somehow, over the course of 24 hours, she had gone from barely talking to Aaron as a work colleague to basically just agreeing to have sex with him after work. Not that she didn't want to, and it was with glee that she had discovered this afternoon that he also wanted to, but they hadn't stopped to think through all of the ramifications, both personally and professionally. They hadn't talked about whether this would be turning into a longer-term relationship or whether it would just be tonight. It if did turn into a longer relationship, they had no idea how they would act around the White House or what they would do in terms of letting the public know. Not that they thought their relationship ought to be of public interest, but if they got caught keeping a secret the scandal would be a lot bigger than it would be if they just came clean. She had no idea what they were doing and no idea what Aaron wanted. She did, however, suspect that deep down she knew what she wanted, as images of cuddling next to her coworker on the couch to watch a movie and waking up next to him kept popping up in her head. She wanted as much of Aaron Shore as he was willing to give to her.

And it was for that reason that, against her better judgement, she was unable to stop fiddling with the key in her pocket the whole day. At about eight, as least earlier than she normally got out of work, she finally left her office, almost running into Seth in the process.

"Oh, sorry Seth!"

"No problem. You on your way out?"

"Yeah, I think so. You almost done?"

"Hopefully, as long as the country doesn't experience a huge catastrophe in the next 30 minutes, knock on wood."

"Wouldn't count on it," she laughed. She paused, but being unable to stop herself asked in an unnaturally-casual voice, "do you know if Aaron already left?"

Seth eyed her knowingly but didn't comment on her tone. "Yeah, about ten minutes ago. Said something about expecting company."

"Huh. Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" she said, sounding far too perky and uncaring about the information he'd given her.

"Yeah, have a _good night,_ " Seth said, eliciting a glare from Emily, though she didn't want to argue with him. It would be as good as an admission.

She knew the way to Aaron's apartment better than she'd care to admit. It helped that he lived only a couple blocks from the White House, turning his place into a natural location for late-night planning meetings between them, Seth, and occasionally a few other staffers when they wanted to get out of the office and relax a little while they discussed business. Before long she found herself reaching up to knock on his door. She stopped herself, realizing this had been the entire point of the key. She let herself in, giving the door a little shove with her shoulder to pry it open. She immediately found Aaron's eyes. He was sitting on the couch with a drink but rose the moment she entered.

"Hey," she said, hoping she didn't sound too lame.

"Hey," he responded, hoping the same thing. "Drink?"

"God, please," she sighed happily, dropping her bag on to the floor. He fixed one for her quickly and handed it to her, their fingers briefly touching. She felt too aware of her every movement as she sipped it and he sat down beside her on the couch. She took a deep breath and spoke like it was a business meeting. "I've been thinking about a lot of things today and I've reached the conclusion that we talk later rather than now."

"And why's that?" He asked, entertained by how formal she was being.

"There's too much to figure out and I know we'll have to at some point but I don't want us to deal with it yet. I at least want tonight."

"Only tonight?" He tried to keep sadness out of his voice. SHe turned to look at him.

"That's not what I said. And...that's not what I want. I...I think I want more, even if that makes everything complicated."

He smiled, relieved. "Okay."

"But like I said, talk later." She downed the rest of her drink, set down the glass, and gathering all her courage leaned over quickly and pressed her lips to his. It all happened so fast that he stilled at first, shocked, but adjusted very quickly. He lightly smiled against her mouth and cupped the back of her head. He was kissing Emily Rhodes. And more than that, Emily Rhodes had been the one to initiate it. He wasn't willing to admit how many times he'd thought about this exact scenario, even since before TOm Kirkman had become president. Of course they hadn't known each other as well then, but he couldn't pretend that Secretary Kirkman's pretty Chief of Staff who liked to argue with him about basically everything hadn't caught his eye the minute she first barged into his office, only two weeks into Richmond's first term, saying "I'm sorry but are you an idiot?"

Before he knew it, Emily had readjusted, essentially pulling a 180 and straddling him without breaking the kiss. He groaned as she ground down on his crotch and felt her smirk. In retaliation, he broke away from her mouth, choosing instead to press light kisses on her neck, working his way down to her collarbone. He heard her gasp and paused a moment to suck on her pulse point, feeling it skyrocket. Grateful to know she was affected by him in the same way he was by her, he picked a spot on her neck to suck, her angling her head as he did so to give him better access. By the time he was done there was a large purple mark that would be nearly impossible to cover with any of the clothes she normally wore to work.

"Oops," he breathed, smiling proudly at his handiwork.

"Ass," she mumbled out before he met her mouth again, kissing her hard. He wrapped his hands around her thighs, and, without breaking apart, stood up, lifting her along with him. In turn she wrapping her legs around his waist. He slowly walked them into his bedroom, his hands now on her upper thighs. He gently lowered her down, giving her ass a firm squeeze before standing up and disappearing from her line of vision. She scoffed, mock-offended, at his behavior and propped herself up on her elbows to find him. He was walking back from his dresser, hands behind his back, a smirk plastered on his painfully attractive face and small beads of sweat forming, which loosened the gel from his naturally curly hair. _God, he's sexy when he looks like that,_ she thought. _Not that he's ever not sexy._ Not willing to give him the satisfaction of letting him in on her thoughts, she eyed him suspiciously. "Whaddya have there?"

He frowned, pretending to pondering his answer. "Tonight was about trust, right?" And his face broke into an evil smirk as he held out...a pair of handcuffs.

"Woah, woah woah woah," Emily said, backing herself up the bed as he advanced upon her, looking what could only be described as predatory. She'd be lying if she said the idea didn't send a warm jolt to her lower stomach, but she wasn't going to come out and say that to him. It was always power-plays between the two of them. "You never said anything about that. Why do you even own those? On second thought, I definitely don't want to know."

"What could possibly show more trust than giving yourself up to me so completely?" he practically purred, crawling his way up her body. He could tell she was still apprehensive so when he reached her face he got serious. "It's only if you want to, Emily."

"No," she said quickly, unable to deny how excited the idea made her. "I want to. And I want you. And I want you to know I trust you." She reached her arms up to the headboard, smiling nervously in a way that aroused him more than anything else had that night. "Oh shit, wait," she said, straightening up and unzipping her own dress. Before he had time to appreciate her red lacy bra, she had removed that too. He raised an eyebrow as she leaned back down and extended her arms again. "Sorry, they're just really expensive and you wouldn't have been able to get them off without ripping them once the cuffs are on."

He fake pouted as he reached up to click the handcuffs into place. "I didn't even get to undress you."

"I think there'll be plenty of opportunities in the future," she whispered playfully.

"I'm holding you to that."

Changing the subject she said, "don't get me wrong, I still want this, but aren't we supposed to have a safeword or something?"

He paused and considered. "Seth?"

She laughed so hard, with Aaron eventually joining her, that it almost made them forget that she was naked except for a small pair of panties underneath him. It almost made them forget that everything about the nature of their relationship was about to be changed forever.

"Yes," she said, a tear of laughter running down her face. "The perfect safeword."

"We'll have to tell him someday," he chuckled.

"God, he'd be so uncomfortable. It's what he deserves, though, after all the annoying, knowing looks he's been giving us."

Aaron glanced down at her body, examining the position they now found themselves in. "But he was at least little bit right, huh?"

"I hate admitting tha-."

She had been so distracted with laughing and berating the press secretary that she hadn't noticed him lean down to suck lightly on the other side of her neck, causing her last word to fade out as her breath caught in her throat. Once again, she knew there'd be a purple mark left by the time he was done, but at least at the moment she couldn't bring herself to care.

Once he was satisfied with his work at her neck, he worked his way down to her collarbone and then her chest, mumbling, "you were saying?" She rolled her eyes but moaned, lost in the feel on his mouth and his hands drifting down her body. As he slowly raked his teeth against one of her nipples, his hands moved down her stomach, lower and lower. She writhed beneath him, partly because of desire and partly because of how ticklish it was. When she let a giggle escape her mouth, he looked up with an amused eyebrow cocked.

"Ticklish, Emily?"

"Of course not," she lied. He moved his fingers to her sides, very deliberately digging in in a way intended to make her laugh. Of course she did, gasping out, "Aaron, oh my-Aaron plea-aaaa-stop, oh my god, stop it, stop it!" He did stop, though he was still smiling as she lifted her head and huffed. "You're evil." He shrugged. "That whole 'trust' thing is feeling farther away, Shore," she berated teasingly.

"Apologies, Ms. Rhodes," he grinned, returning to bringing his hands lower and lower until his fingers found the edge of her panties, red and lace to match the bra. He looked up at her, asking an unspoken question. She nodded. Using one finger and his teeth, he slowly dragged the panties down her legs. Emily felt herself melt into the mattress, enraptured by her sinful coworker. He started to kiss and nip his way up her leg, starting at the ankle and working up to the thighs. It was then that she realized that he was still fully clothed while she was entirely naked and at his mercy. Certainly not a situation she even thought she'd find herself in.

"You seem pretty overdressed," she observed. "I could give you a hand with that, if you wanted to give _me_ a hand." She tugged on her wrists, still chained to the bed.

He only laughed, leaning up and unbuttoning his shirt. "Not just yet, Em." Now only in his slacks, he bent down to continue his work, his mouth hovering over the apex of her legs. She could feel his hot breath on her clit and she took a very deep breath to calm herself. Slowly, aggravatingly slowly, he lowered down to ever-so-lightly lick circles around her clit, very occasionally sucking on the sensitive spot. She clutched bedpost that her arms were chained to, needing something to hold on to as he brought a finger, and then two, up to slowly work into her as his mouth continued in its ministrations.

"Aaron," she breathed. He hummed lightly. "Aaron, please." He started pumping his fingers in and out even faster at her request. She felt herself building, closer and closer and closer-

And then he was gone. She was gasping for air, and opened her eyes in a flash to figure out where he had gone, and why in god's name he had left her so fucking close to the edge. She saw him slowly unzipping and tugging off his slacks and boxers and rolling on a condom. With satisfaction she noticed that she was clearly affecting him as much as he affected her. "Fuck, I hate you."

He tutted softly, crawling back on top of her and reached up to her arms. "All talk."

"Shut up."

She felt the handcuffs shift and suddenly her arms were free from their restraints. She brought them down as Aaron began massaging her wrists lightly and gave him a confused look. "I thought it was supposed to be about trust?"

"I'm pretty satisfied with your demonstration of trust so far, but if you'd like to continue-"

"No," she said shortly and grinned evilly. "I'm good." In a flash, she had taken advantage of his relaxed state and pushed him to the side, flipping them over so she was on top of him. She was proud of herself for knocking over somebody so much larger than her, but to his credit, it really didn't seem like he was making any move to stop her.

They took a moment to adjust to their new position, his eyes and hands drifting over her body. "You're beautiful," he said with awe, not a hint of their teasing in his voice.

She felt her heart slow at his words, feeling more at-peace than she had in a long time. But now was not the time for peace, she thought as she positioned herself over him. She painfully slowly lowered her soaking center just onto his tip, causing him to groan in response. "Emily…"

She smiled and decided that they had both waited long enough — years, in fact. She slowly lowered herself down onto him, both of them unable to hold in a moan as she did so. Aaron grasped her hips as she began to raise herself up again and sink back down. He lifted his head as far as it could go and she bent down to meet his lips, feeling nothing but skin on skin and heat and sweat and the gentle caress of Aaron Shore's lips on her's. Both of them were already so close to begin with, it didn't take long for her to reach her climax, shouting out his name as she did so, which seemed to be the final thing to send Aaron over the edge as well. After riding it out, she crawled off of him and collapsed next to him, resting her head on his chest.

"Oh my god," she breathed.

"I'm flattered, but you know you can just call me Aaron."

She rolled her eyes. "Next time it's you in the cuffs."

" _No,_ next time it's me on top."

Arguments and negotiations were a constant presence between the two white house operatives, even in post-cotial bliss.

He wrapped one arm around her body as she turned toward him fully, tangling her legs together with his.

"What do we do tomorrow?" she asked quietly after a few minutes of peaceful silence.

He made a small, non-committal noise. "You were the one who didn't want to talk about it yet, remember?"

"Oh, right."

He looked down to meet her eye. "But we will talk about it. I promise."

She nodded, smiling. "What time is your alarm?"

He glanced over. "Six. Is that enough time for you to get home and get changed?"

"Should be okay. By the way, just a heads up, even if I'm not walk-of-shaming into work Seth definitely knows something happened tonight."

"What?" he said, propping himself up. "Oh, jesus, Em, what did you say to him?"

"What did _I_ say to him?" she raised her eyebrows, sitting up with him. "This is _your_ fault. He said that before you left you said you were expecting company and he clearly had put together that it was me."

"I _never_ said _anything_ like that when I was leaving work."

"Then why did he-oh, he sucks." Aaron nodded in agreement and started to settle back into the bed. "He made that up so that he'd see how I'd react to it."

"It would seem so, but nothing you can do about it now so probably best to just go back to slee-"

"Oh, I'm gonna absolutely destroy him tomorrow, he's not gonna know what hit him-"

"Right, but he's the Press Secretary so no hurting anything that'll be visible on camera. Go to sleep, Em."

She huffed but settled back into his chest. She slept better than she had since she could remember.


End file.
